


Extenuating Circumstances

by stonecoldsteverogers (youdickbag), youdickbag



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, M/M, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, THERE'S NO SEX IN THIS ONE OMG!!!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-09
Updated: 2012-12-09
Packaged: 2017-11-20 17:29:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/587920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youdickbag/pseuds/stonecoldsteverogers, https://archiveofourown.org/users/youdickbag/pseuds/youdickbag
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“…Sam?”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Sam said hesitantly.</p>
<p>“You’re the one who’s been…”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I am.”</p>
<p>There was silence, and then a light punch to Sam’s stomach. “Don’t leave this time,” Dean said under his breath as he curled up in Sam’s hold and fell back to sleep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Extenuating Circumstances

It happened three times, not in three days, there was time in between, but three times it happened before he was caught.

The first time it happens, Sam's pretty sure Dean didn't even know it had happened. It was just after he'd gotten back from...his absence, and that night, Sam woke up to find his brother shaking. He touched Dean's forehead and pulled it away quickly; the skin was hot, but clammy. It was an unpleasant combination.

Dean was muttering something, and Sam thought it sounded like, "Sammy...no...Sam..."

"Dean, I'm right here," Sam said quietly, but Dean didn't hear, maybe couldn't hear. And he started twisting wildly in the sheets, fighting hard against Sam's hands on his arms.

Sam didn't know what else to do, so he laid down and gathered Dean into his arms until the movements calmed. He was getting ready to move when Dean's arms returned the embrace that Sam's hold had become. Sam didn't think Dean knew what he was doing, but the grip was tight, and the shaky exhale that Dean let out as his head ducked into Sam's chest was enough to remove any intentions of moving that Sam had had.

The second time it happened, Sam almost got caught. He heard the rustling, and then the mutters, and got to Dean before the convulsing could start. And start they did, every bit as violent as the first time. It took them less time to subside this time around, but the nuzzling, the exhale, that was still the same.

They fell asleep. Later, Sam felt shifting next to him, and jumped up and fell into his own bed seconds before Dean rubbed his eyes sleepily. Sam could hear his arms moving...searching? Sam didn't know. But the movements ceased, and when Sam looked again, Dean was fast asleep. He didn't make a sound the rest of the night.

The third time was when Sam got caught; "Third time's the charm," and all that. Sam had gotten into the bed and was holding Dean, allowing his back to press against Sam's front, when suddenly, instead of simply calming back down into sleep, Dean jerked awake with a snort. Sam stiffened, and hoped that this wouldn't turn out badly. But he didn't move, only loosening his arms enough to let Dean turn over and blink at him blearily.

"...Sam?"

"Yeah," Sam said hesitantly.

"You're the one who's been..."

"Yeah, I am."

There was silence, and then a light punch to Sam's stomach. "Don't leave this time," Dean said under his breath as he curled up in Sam's hold and fell back to sleep. Sam's heart was pounding, but he said nothing, and waited for sleep to come again. His last thought was, _I wonder if Dean will feel the same way when he's fully awake?_

He got his answer, but not the next morning.

It wasn't until the night after, when they were getting ready to collapse into bed, that Dean looked at him expectantly. Sam felt mildly uncomfortable, but said, "What?"

"I, uh..." Dean suddenly looked as uncomfortable as Sam felt, but he continued. "Usually I don't have to ask, but would you? Tonight's gonna be a bad one." Sam didn't ask how Dean knew, didn't want to know. He simply nodded and got into Dean's bed first, waiting for him. Dean walked around, pacing, killing time even though Sam knew he was exhausted, but finally Dean shut off the lamp and climbed into the bed. He was stiff, and Sam made to move with a sigh, but Dean grabbed his arm and said quietly, "Wait. Please, Sam."

Sam wouldn't have denied his brother anything when he asked like that. He held his arms open, and Dean let out a nervous breath before pressing closer to Sam, and allowing Sam's arms to close around his back. He relaxed little by little in Sam's grip, and they fell prey to their fatigue at the same time.

Sam awoke in the middle of the night with his brother's arms circled tightly around his lower back, and tightened his own hold in response, wondering when the shakes would come. They didn't before Sam had fallen back asleep, and he wasn't woken by them.

More time passed, and every so often Dean would give him that look, and Sam took that as the question that Dean didn't want to ask aloud.

Finally, one day, when they went into a motel and were asked how many beds, Dean said, "One king." At Sam's surprised look, he said, "You take up too much space, and you're like a giant radiator sometimes."

That night, half of the king-sized bed lay empty, as two bodies held themselves closely together on the other half. Sam never felt the need to comment on it, and simply went along with it when Dean continued to ask for one king-sized bed in the motels they visited.

Yet every night, an entire half of their king sized bed was empty.

Sam didn't know if this was a thing now; it had started because of special circumstances, but as long as Dean needed him, Sam had no complaints.

**Author's Note:**

> First written many many moons ago for [Alaura](http://dean-aimee.tumblr.com), when she sent me this ask on Tumblr:
> 
> “Do you think Sam ever climbed into bed with Dean to give him comfort?”
> 
> Suffice it to say: Yes. Yes I do.


End file.
